The Soil Food Web School Launches Its First-Ever Permaculture Design Certificate Course — A Milestone Moment for Regenerative Education

By The Soil Food Web Foundation April 13, 2026

For decades, the Soil Food Web School has been at the forefront of a quiet revolution — one happening beneath our feet. Founded on the pioneering science of Dr. Elaine Ingham, the School has trained thousands of students, consultants, and lab technicians across the globe to understand, restore, and work in harmony with the biological systems that sustain all life.

Today, we are proud to mark a new chapter in that mission.

The Soil Food Web School has officially launched the first cohort of its first-ever Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course — a landmark moment for regenerative education. This course carries a meaningful legacy: it is built on the legacy of Graham Bell, the first PDC holder in the UK and an honored Permaculture Elder. The program is offered in cooperation with the globally recognized Permaculture Association, which provides the certificate to all graduates — ensuring that students receive a credential as rigorous and respected as the education behind it. 

For the first time, two of the most powerful frameworks in regenerative agriculture and ecological design come together under one roof.

Why This Matters

Each new day brings more confirmation that our civilizations seem to be running on systems designed to consume and divide, and that regenerative practices are key for long-term sustainability and growth. But many do not understand how to integrate these practices not only into large- and small-scale food production operations, but also to apply the same mindset to neighborhoods, communities, and all manner of living systems.  Communities, growers, educators, and policymakers are asking the same question: How do we reverse course toward a sustainable new true north?

The answer, we believe, begins in the soil — and is designed from the ground up.

Permaculture Design and the Soil Food Web Approach have long been natural allies. Permaculture offers a design framework for observing, planning, and building systems that work with nature’s patterns and relationships. One that regenerates naturally by building, not destroying, balanced ecosystems and diversity. The Soil Food Web Approach offers the biological foundation: how to understand and cultivate the microbial communities that drive nutrient cycling, plant health, water retention, ecosystem function, and ultimately, food production and human health. Together, they form a complete language for land regeneration and stewardship.

Until now, students and practitioners have had to pursue these two bodies of knowledge separately, often across different institutions, curricula, and communities. This course serves students seeking a Permaculture Design Certification with deeper roots by including the essentials of the soil food web education, a community within the Soil Food Web School ecosystem, and is taught by practitioners who bridge both bodies of study. 

What the PDC Offers

The Soil Food Web School’s Permaculture Design Certificate course is built for practitioners who want to go deeper — not just into design principles, but into the living science that underlies them.

Students will gain a thorough grounding in Permaculture Design principles over the course of 12 weeks, while integrating Soil Food Web science, as well. Learning how soil biology informs site assessment, water management, plant guilds, composting systems, and long-term land regeneration. The course adds to the School’s breadth of impact, and joins existing courses in microscopy, compost biology, and ecological restoration, and is taught by faculty who bridge both disciplines.

Whether you own land or live in the city, work as a landscape designer or have never designed an outdoor system before, if you find yourself looking to natural systems for solutions, this course is designed to equip you with both the vision and the practical knowledge you need to design genuinely regenerative systems — wherever you are in the world.

A Community Built for This Moment

The Soil Food Web School’s community of graduates spans more than 130 countries. Our consultants, lab technicians, and practitioners are already working on the front lines of ecological restoration — rebuilding degraded soils, reducing dependence on chemical inputs. Graduates demonstrate, farm by farm and garden by garden, that agriculture built on healthy soil biomes is not only possible but productive and cost-cutting.

The PDC is the next step in deepening that community’s capacity — and in welcoming a new generation of regenerative designers and citizen scientists into it.

We have been moved, humbled, and energized by the response from our community since announcing this course. The appetite for integrated, science-grounded regenerative education is real, and it is growing.

The Founding Cohort

The founding cohort includes approximately 60 enthusiastic people from around the globe. Some are urban homeowners, while others manage large-scale acreage. Some have graduated from other Soil Food Web courses. Some are new to us. All of them want to understand more about how nature is designed and how they can use those lessons to become better decision-makers, provide for their own needs, and save time, energy, and money.

This is a moment we will look back on as a turning point, and we are honored to share it with you.

👉 Learn more here: https://school.soilfoodweb.com/courses/permaculture-design-certification

If a cohort is not enrolling when you read this, please fill in the interest form so we can notify you when the next one opens for enrollment. 

A Note from the Soil Food Web Foundation

At the Soil Food Web Foundation, we strive to make regenerative education accessible, rigorous, and impactful — to build the human capacity that ecological restoration requires. The launch of this PDC course is one of the most significant expressions of that mission to date.

We are grateful to Dr. Elaine Ingham, to our faculty, to our global community of graduates, to Graham Bell — who entrusted us with this legacy course to carry forth his incredible work —and to every student who has trusted us with their education and their land. This milestone belongs to all of you.

The living soil is waiting. Let’s design the future it deserves.

The Soil Food Web School supports the educational mission of the Soil Food Web Foundation, advancing science-based regenerative agriculture education across the globe. To learn more, visit www.soilfoodweb.com.